Walking In Agreement With God - The Hidden Crisis In The Church

We live in a world obsessed with performance. From the boardroom to the classroom, and inevitably into the sanctuary, we are conditioned to believe that results are the direct product of our effort. We measure our worth by our output. For many, this mindset has bled into their spiritual lives, creating a generation of exhausted believers who know the Bible but lack the power it promises.

If you have ever felt like you are running on a spiritual treadmill - working hard, praying hard, trying to be "good," yet seeing very little change in your actual character - you are facing the hidden crisis of the modern church.

In a profound sermon titled "The Hidden Crisis In The Church," Pastor Sam Merigala addresses this crisis head-on. He dismantles the exhausting architecture of religious striving and offers a liberating truth that has the power to change not just your theology, but your daily reality. Whether you have been a believer for decades or are simply someone searching for a peace that the world cannot manufacture, this message holds the key to the life you have been longing for.

The Hidden Crisis: Fruitlessness Amidst Activity

The sermon begins with a diagnosis that is uncomfortable but necessary. Pastor Merigala points out that many people know the scriptures by heart. We can recite Galatians 5:22-23 - the famous list of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We hear sermons on these virtues, we study them, and we pray for them.

Yet, if we are brutally honest, many of us are not seeing this fruit grow in our lives. We still struggle with the same old anger. We are paralyzed by the same anxieties. We battle the same lack of self-control we dealt with years ago. Why? Why does a Spirit-filled believer, walking with God, seem so barren when it comes to actual transformation?

Pastor Merigala provides an answer that is both "simple and shocking": "You've been trying to produce fruit instead of allowing it to grow".

This single misunderstanding is the root of our spiritual fatigue. We have spent years trying to manufacture love, conjure up joy, and force ourselves to be patient through sheer willpower. We treat the fruit of the Spirit as a behavioral checklist, gritting our teeth and attempting to "act like Jesus". But as Pastor Merigala astutely notes, this approach is doomed to fail because fruit is not produced by human effort; fruit is produced by life.

The Vine and The Branch

To correct this fatal error, Pastor Merigala directs us to the words of Jesus in John 15:4-5. The imagery Jesus uses here is not merely poetic; it is functional.

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

The sermon highlights a specific order in this passage: Abide first, fruit second.

The profound insight Pastor Merigala offers here is regarding the nature of the branch. A branch does not struggle to produce grapes. You never walk past a vineyard and hear the branches grunting and straining to pop out a grape. The branch simply stays connected to the vine. It is the life flowing from the vine through the branch that produces the fruit automatically.

This shifts the entire paradigm of the Christian life. You are not the producer; you are the branch. Your job is not to make the fruit happen; your job is to stay connected to Jesus. When you understand this, the pressure lifts. The burden of "being good" is replaced by the privilege of "being connected." As the sermon states, "The Christian life is not difficult. It's impossible. Impossible for you to live in your own ability". But when we stop striving and start abiding, the impossible becomes effortless.

Understanding the "Fruit" (Singular)

A critical theological distinction made in the sermon is the grammatical nature of the "fruit" of the Spirit. Galatians 5 does not speak of "fruits" (plural), but "fruit" (singular).

Pastor Merigala explains that this is not a buffet where we pick and choose characteristics - perhaps taking a little joy but leaving the patience behind. It is the single fruit of the Spirit with nine visible expressions. This fruit is nothing less than the life of Christ manifesting through a human vessel.

When the life of Christ flows through you unhindered, it looks like love. It looks like peace. It looks like self-control. These are not separate virtues to be achieved; they are the inevitable byproduct of His nature.

The mistake we make is waking up in the morning and saying, "Today I’m going to be patient," or "Today I’m not going to lose my temper". By lunchtime, we have usually failed because we are trying to produce spiritual fruit using the tool of human willpower. Pastor Merigala uses the analogy of an apple tree to drive this point home: An apple tree doesn't try to produce apples; it draws nutrients from the soil. The life in those nutrients produces the apples. If you sever the roots, the tree can "try" as hard as it wants, but without the source, there is no life, and without life, there is no fruit.

The Practical Discipline of Abiding

If the key to life is abiding, the urgent question becomes: How do we abide? Is it a mystical feeling? Is it just sitting around doing nothing?

Pastor Merigala clarifies that abiding is not passive; it is actively maintaining fellowship with Jesus through specific daily disciplines. He outlines four practical pillars of abiding that serve as a roadmap for anyone seeking spiritual depth.

1. Time in His Presence

You cannot abide in someone you never spend time with. The sermon points to Mark 1:35, where Jesus Himself rose before daylight to pray in a solitary place. If the Son of God prioritized time alone with the Father, how much more do we need it? This isn't about rushing through a devotional checklist. It requires being still, being quiet, and letting His presence fill you. It is in this quiet place that the sap of the Vine begins to flow into the branch.

2. Obedience to His Voice

Jesus stated clearly in John 15:10, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love". Pastor Merigala identifies obedience as the primary evidence of abiding. If we walk in known disobedience or ignore the conviction of the Spirit, we are effectively pinching the tube that connects us to the Vine. Disconnection stops the flow of life. Abiding requires immediate response to the Holy Spirit and complete alignment with what God has spoken.

3. Staying in the Word

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you..." (John 15:7). We cannot stay connected to the Living Word (Jesus) while neglecting the written Word. Pastor Merigala emphasizes that the Word is how we align our thinking with His truth. Citing Colossians 3:16, the sermon teaches that when the Word dwells in us richly, it saturates the mind and renews our thoughts, allowing fruit to grow from the inside out.

4. Walking in Love

The final pillar is relational. 1 John 4:12 tells us that if we love one another, God abides in us. This is where the rubber meets the road. When we hold grudges, walk in offense, or demand to be served, we break fellowship with God. Bitterness is a blockage in the vine. But when we forgive and serve, we maintain the flow of life, and the fruit flourishes.

Why We Fail: Three Critical Mistakes

Even with this knowledge, many believers sabotage their own growth. Pastor Merigala identifies three specific traps that keep us from the abundant life.

The Mistake of Intermittent Abiding Many of us are "Sunday Christians." We abide during the worship service or Bible study, but from Monday to Saturday, we are disconnected. The sermon warns that a branch connected to the vine only one day a week will wither. Abiding must be a moment-by-moment lifestyle, not an event. It is a relationship, not a ritual.

The Mistake of Imitation This is perhaps the most common pitfall in religious circles. We see someone else who is patient or joyful, and we try to "act" like them. We fake the fruit. Pastor Merigala warns that imitation always fails because fruit produced by human effort is superficial. It looks good until the pressure comes. Under testing, the imitation crumbles, and our true nature is revealed. Genuine fruit, however, is deep and enduring because it does not depend on circumstances; it flows from the internal life of Christ.

The Mistake of Wrong Focus We are obsessed with the fruit. We constantly check our spiritual pulse: Am I loving enough? Am I peaceful enough? Pastor Merigala argues that you cannot grow fruit by staring at the branch. The Christian who is preoccupied with their own performance is focused on the wrong thing. Our focus must be on Jesus - on knowing Him and loving Him. When the focus is on the Vine, the fruit grows "without you even thinking about it".

The Cure: Beholding the Glory

So, what do we do when we look at our lives and see anger instead of patience, or anxiety instead of peace?

The instinctive reaction is to beat ourselves up and try harder. Pastor Merigala commands us to stop. "You go back to the root issue," he says. You must ask yourself: Am I abiding?. If the answer is no, the solution is not effort; it is reconnection.

He offers a beautiful analogy of a lamp. If a lamp isn't shining, you don't yell at the lamp to "try harder." You check the connection to the power source. If it is unplugged, you simply plug it back in, and the light flows automatically. Similarly, if spiritual fruit is absent in your life, you don't need more willpower; you need to check your connection to the Vine.

This is the essence of transformation as described in 2 Corinthians 3:18: "But we all... beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image...".

Transformation happens by beholding, not by striving. When we fix our eyes on Jesus and spend time in His presence, the Spirit transforms us into His image. His nature rubs off on us. As Pastor Merigala eloquently puts it, "Love increases, joy deepens, peace settles, patience extends, all because you're beholding him".

A Call to Rest

The message Pastor Sam Merigala brings to the world is one of immense hope and relief. It is a declaration that the pressure is off.

To the unbeliever, this offers a view of Christianity that is not about rules and restriction, but about a life-giving connection to the Source of all goodness. To the believer, it is an invitation to lay down the heavy burden of religious performance.

You need to settle this in your heart: The fruit of the Spirit is not your responsibility to produce. It is your privilege to display.

Your responsibility is simply to abide. Stay connected to Him. Maintain your fellowship through the Word, obedience, and love. When you make abiding your lifestyle, you will stop struggling to be patient and start watching His patience flow through you. You will stop faking joy and start experiencing His joy filling you.

This is the abundant life Jesus promised in John 10:10. It is not a life of striving and failing. It is a life of abiding, resting, and watching the fruit grow naturally as His life flows through you.

Stop trying. Start abiding. And watch the world around you be blessed by the fruit that only He can grow.